The Problem-solving Capacity of the Modern State: Governance Challenges and Administrative Capacities

by Martin Lodge (Editor), Kai Wegrich (Editor)

The early 21st century has presented considerable challenges to the problem-solving capacity of the contemporary state in the industrialised world. Among the many uncertainties, anxieties and tensions, it is, however, the cumulative challenge of fiscal austerity, demographic developments, and climate change that presents the key test for contemporary states. Debates abound regarding the state's ability to address these and other problems given increasingly dispersed forms of governing and institutional vulnerabilities created by politico-administrative and economic decision-making structures. This volume advances these debates, first, by moving towards a cross-sectoral perspective that takes into account the cumulative nature of the contemporary challenge to governance focusing on the key governance areas of infrastructure, sustainability, social welfare, and social integration; second, by considering innovations that have sought to add problem-solving capacity; and third, by exploring the kind of administrative capacities (delivery, regulatory, coordination, and analytical) required to encourage and sustain innovative problem-solving. This edition introduces a framework for understanding the four administrative capacities that are central to any attempt at problem-solving and how they enable the policy instruments of the state to have their intended effect. It also features chapters that focus on the way in which these capacities have become stretched and how they have been adjusted, given the changing conditions; the way in which different states have addressed particular governance challenges, with particular attention paid to innovation at the level of policy instrument and the required administrative capacities; and, finally, types of governance capacities that lie outside the boundaries of the state.

SOG member Per Laegreid is one of the editors of Organizing for Coordination in the Public Sector, just published by Palgrave Macmillan. Details about the book. “This important collection is comprised of 20 European case studies; it offers valuable insights into public sector coordination and points to important lessons for devising and implementing new coordination instruments.”

How to reinvent government in Latin America and the Caribbean

"Criticism of the capacity of the state to deliver quality services has become widespread, generating cynicism and undermining trust in government," says Carlos Santiso of the Inter-American Development Bank. In a commentary for Governance, Santiso identifies the three key steps toward improving government performance in Latin America and the Caribbean: creating "agile centers of government"; fostering a "technically competent and fiscally sustainable civil service"; and using new technologies to promote transparency. Free access to the commentary.

News from Governance February 18, 2015 - An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions

A new approach to institutional change

In the current issue of Governance, Jane Gingrich examines a paradox. A large scholarly literature says that change is difficult in the public sector. But the public sector has in fact changed substantially over the last two decades. Better theory is needed to explain when and how institutional change happens. Gringrich identifies three different types of costs to change, and explains how different combinations of these costs can lead to different patterns of policy change. Gingrich uses British and American experience in healthcare and welfare reform to illustrate her argument. Free access to the article.

Which first: State capacity or democracy?

Conventional wisdom says that a sound and functioning state has to be in place before democracy can be introduced. The possibility that democratization might contribute to state-building "has hardly been addressed in empirical research," Giovanni Carbone and Vincenzo Memoli argue in the current issue of Governance. Their findings? More democratic countries are more likely to develop stronger and more effective states. Countries that reach and sustain a certain level of democratization are particularly likely to realize the benefits of a well-developed state. "Our findings have evident policy implications," Carbone and Memoli say. "Authoritarian rulers do not make better 'state consolidators'." Read the article.